Ogre pitch

The Harryhausen cyclops is a little scaly, but the head
is iconic for an Empire Ogre

Overview

• An Empire ogre is a creature designed to fill the role of "brute" on a battlefield and on quests.
  • These are meant to be scary - they're the iconic brute for Empire, combining elements of traditional roleplaying ogres, trolls and giants.
  • We don't believe a single ogre is an effective tool; our rules don't allow for monsters that are immune to attacks, so players will quickly overwhelm a single ogre.
  • To be effective, we would want to field a unit of ogres, or an ogre supported by multiple allied creatures.
• Empire ogres are combat creatures.
  • The costume must allow enough movement that it can see and fight effectively.
• They draw on images associated with traditional RPG trolls, cyclopes, fomori and giants as well as obvious ogre imagery; they also have elements of over-sized neanderthal or cave-man about them.
• Our absolute ideal would be an ogre costume that had some customizability - hands that can hold a large weapon rather than a built-in weapon; the ability to add or remove costume elements such as armour; possibly a couple of extra heads.
  • We understand that this is aspirational
• Both "wild" ogres (savages with makeshift weapons and bits of fur, leather or bone) and more "domesticated" ogres (ogres wearing scraps of armour fighting with oversized swords, axes or maces) are useful.

Appearance

• Ogres are larger-than-man-sized creatures
  • Preferably at least seven feet tall or significantly wider than a human being (we imagine that very big shoulders might be effective on the right costume)
  • This allows us to use our Large Creature rules
  • Matt has suggested that ogres with no necks and built-up heads, with the operator seeing through the chest, could make it easier to build larger ogres.
• They are humanoids, but there is a wide diversity in their specific features. Ogres are conceived as being "genetically" unstable and presenting plenty of diversity in their physical characteristics. Some of the examples given to the players are:
  • an odd number of eyes - both a single eye in the middle, and a third functioning eye above the other two.
  • curling horns - similar to those of a cambion or a single horn reminiscent of a rhinocerous)
  • tusks similar to those of a boar or mammoth
  • bony growths on the body especially around the hands, shoulder, knees and upper back similar to those of Shadowrun trolls
  • tufts of fur or hair, or entire pelts of long coarse hair
  • mottled or striated marks on the skin, albeit most often in 'normal' ogrish skin colours rather than anything more colourful.
  • ape-like facial features, especially the pugnacious jaw and nose
  • Inappropriate Elements: Ogres are mammals, so body parts reminiscent of other types of creature would not be appropriate (ogres don't have tentacles, insect-like elements, feathers, wings or lizard-like scales)
• Ogres keep growing throughout their lifespan and can be as large as we can phys-rep.

• Wild ogres use tree-trunks and rough hides.
• Ogres that are fighting with orcs may have piecemeal armour and wield massive two-handed weapon in one hand
• They are unlikely to have shields - they don't usually have the brains or inclination to parry

Ogre capabilities

• They are freakishly strong. This allows them to batter down gates or light pallisades with their fists, or use powerful heroic calls to scatter or maim their opponents
• They have preternatural stamina - this means lots of body hits.
  • I think they can also heal up by eating - if they're given a bit of time to recover and there is plenty of meat around they can restore themselves to full hits in about five minutes by using one of their Second Wind abilities which is much more effective for large beasties than just getting 3 hits back I think.

As Characters

• The Jotun, the Thule and even the Druj make use of ogre families in their armies. They give them weapons and armour them up, making them much more dangerous than wild ogres.
• They have a voracious appetite that means they are almost constantly hungry. They can eat anything they can fit in their gobs, but they prefer meat.
  • If they taste human flesh, they develop an overwhelming craving for it, making them even more dangerous.
• There are no ogre magicians or shaman. All ogres are thugs. They can be the target of enchantments just like anyone else however that might give them odd powers.
• They are intelligent and can speak, but are incredibly stupid by human and orc standards. Despite their strength they make dreadful labourers and need constant supervision.
• They don't create anything - they don't build, they don't paint, they don't even carve wood.They just live to procreate, fight and eat.
• An ogre pack is dominated by the strongest and most vicious ogre. They are territorial, and fight each other for territory.
• Lone ogres, especially adolescent ogres, are either outcasts or are on the search for a mate.
• Ogres don't craft or build, but might serve as labourers.
• Flavour tells PCs: "A lone character would most likely be able to defeat a lone ogre only with a great deal of luck or a clever plan, and a single ogre is capable of threatening an entire small village. A group of ogres is exponentially more dangerous - they represent a credible threat to an village or an experienced band of soldiers."

Images

Domesticated Ogres

Captured and enslaved by orcs; hard to control on a battlefield; used as living siege engines

Simple leather armour and a massive flail weapon

Piecemeal, rusted armour strapped to the ogre by it's orc masters

The buckler would be off-message, but the rest suggests a domesticated ogre

Dual wielding is probably too sophisticated, but the style of the weapons and armour suggest a domesticated Thule or Jotun.

An ogre with a back-banner would be a distinctive
battlefield presence, particularly if surrounded by a unit
of elite orcs.

Savage Ogres

Makeshiftw weapons and simple fur or untanned leather clothing

Dragon Age Ogres

Twisted horns and savagery; used by a savage enemy as brutes and shock trools; also, the idea of a creature "mutated" from another creature (the Qunari)

Physically Diverse

Two ogres can look very different, while remaining mammalian humanoids.

Ogres can have unique head-shapes or facial features.

Links

• here is a link to the Ogre page on our main wiki - this is expanded information for our players.